Jimmy Rodgers’ neighbors speak out

CADET, Mo. – WINK News traveled to a small town about 90 minutes south of St. Louis where one of the men accused of murdering Teresa Sievers, Jimmy Rodgers, lived with his girlfriend.

We met a man named Robbie Lake, who stays in a mobile home right across from Rodgers’ trailer.

“I went over to his trailer a couple times, sat with him, he always talked about how we was wanted by the feds,” said Lake, who also said he never asked Rodgers’ why he was wanted by the feds.

Lake told us Rodgers would also talk about how much he liked hammers. According to a source in the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Sievers was bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

“That gave me chills, knowin’ that he said his favorite weapon was a hammer,” said Lake.

Another neighbor told us that Rodgers once gave her husband a ride home from Wal-Mart and showed him a hammer he kept under the seat of his car.

“I’ve got a ten year old daughter, and you know it’s just not a good idea to have somebody like that around here,” said Samantha LaRue, another neighbor.

Neighbors say on Tuesday, August 25, authorities from both Missouri and Florida raided Rodgers’ trailer.

“I seen them take bloody clothes out of Jim’s car, to put in a paper bag to put in the CSI truck,” said Lake’s girlfriend Angel Coleman, who witnessed the raid.

“They found a cooler, a white cooler, and it had blood spots in it,” said LaRue, who also witnessed the raid.

Before news of Rodger’s alleged involvement in Sievers’ murder reached the trailer park, Coleman says Rodgers was fairly well liked.

“He seemed like a pretty sweet guy, you know always had barbecues at his house and had friends over, never really threatened me or my kids but after hearing that, it’s a relief to know that he’s gone.”

Rodgers is currently in custody in St. Louis, and will be sentenced Wednesday for violating the terms of his probation. He will spend at least 4 months in federal prison before likely being extradited to Lee County to face second degree murder charges.